Tertullian: de Patientia

[1] Confiteor ad dominum Deum satis temere me, si non etiam inpudenter, de patientia componere ausum, cui praestandae idoneus omnino non sim, ut homo nullius boni, quando oporteat demonstrationem et commendationem alicuius rei adortos ipsos prius in administratione eius rei deprehendi et constantiam commonendi propriae conuersationis auctoritate dirigere, ne dicta factis deficientibus erubescant.

[1] I confess to the Lord God that I have ventured quite rashly, if not even impudently, to compose on patience, for the exhibiting of which I am altogether not fit, as a man of no good; since it is proper that those who set out to make a demonstration and commendation of any matter should first be found in the administration of that very matter, and should direct the constancy of their admonition by the authority of their own conduct, lest their words be put to shame when their deeds fail.

[2] Atque utinam erubescere istud remedium ferat, uti pudor non exhibendi quod aliis suggestum imus exhibendi fiat magisterium! Nisi quod bonorum quorundam, sicuti et malorum, intolerabilis magnitudo est, ut ad capienda et praestanda ea sola gratia diuinae inspirationis operetur.

[2] And would that blushing might bring this remedy, that the pudor at not exhibiting what we go to suggest to others to be exhibited might become a teacher for exhibiting! Except that the intolerable magnitude of certain goods, as also of evils, is such that, for taking them up and for performing them, the sole grace of divine inspiration operates.

[3] Nam quod maxime bonum, id maxime penes Deum nec alius id quam qui possidet dispensat, ut cuique dignatur.

[3] For that which is the greatest good, that is most of all with God, nor does anyone other than the one who possesses it dispense it, as he deigns to each.

[4] Itaque uelut solacium erit disputare super eo quod frui non datur, uice languentium qui cum uacent a sanitate de bonis eius tacere non norunt.

[4] Therefore, as a sort of solace, it will be to discourse about that which it is not given to enjoy, in the stead of the languishing, who, though they are vacant of health, do not know how to be silent about its goods.

[5] Ita miserrimus ego semper aeger caloribus inpatientiae, quam non optineo patientiae sanitatem, et suspirem et inuocem et perorem necesse est, cum recordor et in meae inbecillitatis contemplatione digero bonam fidei ualitudinem et dominicae disciplinae sanitatem non facile cuiquam nisi patientia adsideat prouenire.

[5] Thus I, most miserable, always sick with the fevers of impatience, since I do not obtain the health of patience, must both sigh and invoke and perorate, when I recall and, in the contemplation of my weakness, digest the good health of faith; and that the health of the Lord’s discipline does not readily come to anyone unless patience sits beside and attends.

[6] Ita praeposita Dei rebus est, ut nullum praeceptum obire quis, nullum opus domino complacitum perpetrare extraneus a patientia possit.

[6] Thus it is set over the affairs of God, such that no one a stranger to patience can discharge any precept, nor accomplish any work pleasing to the Lord.

[7] Bonum eius etiam qui caeca uiuunt summae uirtutis appellatione honorant; philosophi quidem, qui alicuius sapientiae animalia deputantur, tantum illi subsignant ut, cum inter sese uariis sectarum libidinibus et sententiarum aemulationibus discordent, solius tamen patientiae in commune memores huic uni studiorum suorum commiserint pacem: in eam conspirant, in eam foederantur, in illam adfectatione uirtutis unanimiter student; omnem sapientiae ostentationem de patientia praeferunt.

[7] Even those who live in blindness honor its good with the appellation of highest virtue; philosophers indeed, who are deputed as creatures of some wisdom, so far countersign it that, although among themselves they disagree through the various lusts of sects and the emulations of opinions, yet, in common mindful of patience alone, to this one they have entrusted the peace of their studies: into it they conspire, into it they are federated, toward it they unanimously strive with an affectation of virtue; they display every ostentation of wisdom as derived from patience.

[8] Grande testimonium eius est cum etiam uanas saeculi disciplinas ad laudem et gloriam promouet! Aut numquid potius iniuria, cum diuina res in saecularibus artibus uolutatur?

[8] A great testimony of it is when it even promotes the vain disciplines of the age to praise and glory! Or is it rather an injury, when a divine thing is tossed about in secular arts?

[9] Sed uiderint illi quos mox sapientiae suae cum saeculo destructae ac dedecoratae pudebit!

[9] But let those see to it, who will soon be ashamed that their wisdom, together with the world, has been destroyed and dishonored!

II.

[1] Nobis exercendae patientiae auctoritatem non adfectatio humana caninae aequanimitatis stupore formata, sed uiuae ac caelestis disciplinae diuina dispositio delegat, Deum ipsum ostendens patientiae exemplum,

[1] For us, the authority for the exercising of patience is delegated not by human affectation, formed by the stupor of canine equanimity, but by the divine disposition of a living and heavenly discipline, showing God himself as the example of patience,

[2] iam primum qui florem lucis huius super iustos et iniustos aequaliter spargit, qui temporum officia elementorum seruitia totius geniturae tributa dignis simul et indignis patitur occurrere,

[2] first of all, he who scatters the flower of this light equally upon the just and the unjust, who suffers the offices of the seasons, the services of the elements, the tributes of the whole creation to occur to the worthy and the unworthy alike,

[3] sustinens ingratissimas nationes ludibria artium et opera manuum suarum adorantes, nomen familiam ipsius persequentes, luxuria auaritia iniquitate malignitate cottidie insolescentes, ut sua sibi patientia detrahat: plures enim dominum idcirco non credunt, quia saeculo iratum tam diu nesciunt.

[3] bearing the most ungrateful nations, who adore the mockeries of arts and the works of their hands, who persecute his name and household, growing insolent day by day in lust, avarice, iniquity, and malignity, so that by his own patience he seems to detract from himself: for many on that account do not believe in the Lord, because they do not know him to be angry with the world for so long.

III.

[1] Et haec quidem diuinae patientiae species quasi de longinquo fors ut de supernis aestimetur: quid illa autem [patientiam], quae inter homines palam in terris quodammodo manu adprehensa est?

[1] And indeed this appearance of divine patience perhaps is estimated as if from afar, from the supernal things: but what of that [patience], which among men, openly on earth, has been, in a certain way, taken hold of by the hand?

[2] Nasci se Deus patitur: in utero matris [et] expectat et natus adolescere sustinet et adultus non gestit agnosci, sed contumeliosus insuper sibi est et a seruo suo tinguitur et temptatoris congressus solis uerbis repellit;

[2] God suffers himself to be born: in his mother’s womb [and] he waits, and, once born, he endures to grow up, and, as an adult, he does not long to be recognized, but moreover he heaps contumely upon himself, and is baptized by his own servant, and he repels the encounters of the Tempter with words alone;

[3] cum de domino fit magister docens hominem euadere mortem, absolutam scilicet ueniam offensae patientiae eruditus,

[3] when, though Lord, he becomes a teacher, teaching man to evade death—namely, the absolute pardon of the offense—trained in patience,

[4] non contendit, non reclamauit nec quisquam in plateis uocem eius audiuit; arundinem quassatam non fregit, linum fumigans non restinxit (nec enim mentitus fuerat propheta, immo ipsius Dei contestatio spiritum suum in filio cum tota patientia collocantis!),

[4] he did not contend, he did not cry out, nor did anyone in the streets hear his voice; a bruised reed he did not break, a smoking flax he did not extinguish (for the prophet had not lied—rather, it was the attestation of God himself, placing his Spirit in the Son with all patience!),

[5] nullum uolentem sibi adhaerere non suscepit, nullius mensam tectumue despexit, atquin ipse lauandis discipulorum pedibus ministrauit;

[5] he refused no one willing to adhere to him, he despised no one’s table or roof; and indeed he himself ministered to the washing of the disciples' feet;

[6] non peccatores, non publicanos aspernatus est, non illi saltim ciuitati quae eum recipere noluerat iratus est, cum etiam discipuli tam contumelioso oppido caelestes ignes repraesentari uoluissent; ingratos curauit, insidiatoribus cessit.

[6] he did not spurn sinners, nor publicans, he was not, at least, angry with that city which had been unwilling to receive him, though even the disciples had wished heavenly fires to be brought down upon so contumelious a town; he cared for the ungrateful, he yielded to those lying in wait.

[7] Parum hoc, si non etiam proditorem suum secum habuit nec constanter denotauit. Cum uero traditur, cum adducitur ut pecus ad uictimam (sic enimnon magis aperit os quam agnus sub tondentis potestate), ille, cui legiones angelorum si uoluisset uno dicto de caelis adfuissent, ne unius quidem discentis gladium ultorem probauit.

[7] This is too little: he even kept his traitor with him and did not constantly point him out. But when he is betrayed, when he is led like cattle to the victim (for thushe no more opens his mouth than a lamb under the power of the shearer), he—at whose single word, had he willed it, legions of angels would have been present from the heavens—did not approve even the avenging sword of a single disciple.

[8] Patientia domini in Malcho uulnerata est: itaque et gladii opera maledixit in posterum et sanitatis restitutione ei quem non ipse uexauerat satisfecit, per patientiam misericordiae matrem.

[8] The patience of the Lord was wounded in Malchus: therefore he both cursed the work of the sword for the future, and by the restitution of health he made satisfaction to him whom he himself had not vexed, through patience, the mother of mercy.

[9] Taceo quod figitur, in hoc enim uenerat: numquid tamen subiendae morti etiam contumeliis opus fuerat? Sed saginari patientiae uoluptate discessurus uolebat: despuitur uerberatur deridetur, foedis uestitur, foedioribus coronatur.

[9] I am silent as to the fact that he is fixed, for for this indeed he had come: was there any need, however, for contumelies also in the death to be undergone? But, being about to depart, he wished to be fattened on the pleasure of patience: he is spat upon, he is beaten, he is mocked, he is clothed with foul things, with fouler he is crowned.

[10] Mira aequanimitatis fides: qui in hominis figura proposuerat latere, nihil de inpatientia hominis imitatus est! Hinc uel maxime, pharisaei, dominum agnoscere debuistis: patientiam huiusmodi nemo hominum perpetraret!

[10] Marvelous faith of equanimity: he who had purposed to lie hidden in the figure of a man imitated nothing of man’s impatience! Hence most of all, Pharisees, you ought to have recognized the Lord: such patience no one of men would accomplish!

[11] Talia tantaque documenta, quorum magnitudo penes nationes quidem detrectatio fidei est, penes nos uero ratio et structio, satis aperte, non sermonibus modo in praecipiendo, sed etiam passionibus domini sustinendo, probant his quibus credere datum est patientiam Dei esse naturam, effectum et praestantiam ingenitae cuiusdam proprietatis.

[11] Such and so great documents, whose magnitude among the nations indeed is a detraction of faith, but among us rather a reason and a structure, quite openly prove—not by words only in giving precepts, but also by enduring the Lord’s passions—to those to whom it has been given to believe, that the patience of God is the nature, the effect, and the preeminence of a certain ingenerate property.

IV.

[1] Igitur si probos quosque seruos et bonae mentis pro ingenio dominico conuersari uidemus (siquidem artificium promerendi obsequium est, obsequii uero disciplina morigera subiectio est), quanto magis nos secundum dominum moratos inueniri oportet, seruos scilicet Dei uiui, cuius iudicium in suos non in compede aut pilleo uertitur, sed in aeternitate aut poenae aut salutis!

[1] Therefore, if we see that upright servants, of good mind, conduct themselves according to a lordly disposition (since the art of earning favor is obedience, and indeed the discipline of obedience is compliant subjection), how much more ought we to be found comported according to the Lord, namely, servants of the living God, whose judgment upon his own is not turned into a shackle or a cap, but into an eternity either of punishment or of salvation!

[2] Cui seueritati declinandae uel liberalitati inuitandae tanta obsequii diligentia opus est, quanta sunt ipsa quae aut seueritas comminatur aut liberalitas pollicetur.

[2] To avoid that severity or to invite that liberality, there is need of so great a diligence of obedience as great as are the very things which either severity threatens or liberality promises.

[3] Et tamen nos non de hominibus modo seruitute subnixisuel quolibet alio iure debitoribus obsequii, uerum etiam de pecudibus, etiam de bestiis oboedientiam exprimimus, intellegentes usibus nostris eas a domino prouisas traditasque.

[3] And yet we exact obedience not only from human beings propped by servitudeor debtors of obedience by any other right whatsoever, but even from cattle, even from beasts, understanding that for our uses they have been provided and handed over by the Lord.

[4] Meliora ergo nobis erunt in obsequii disciplina quae nobis Deus subdit? Agnoscunt denique quae oboediunt: nos, cui soli subditi sumus, domino scilicet, auscultare dubitamus? At quam iniustum est, quam etiam ingratum, quod per alterius indulgentiam de aliis consequaris, idem illi, per quem consequeris, de temetipso non rependere!

[4] Will, then, the things which God subjects to us be better than us in the discipline of obedience? Those that obey, after all, acknowledge; do we, to whom alone we are subject—to the Lord, namely—hesitate to hearken? But how unjust, how even ungrateful, that what you obtain concerning others through the indulgence of another, you do not repay the same to him, by whom you obtain it, from your very self!

[5] Nec pluribus de obsequii exhibitione debiti a nobis domino Deo: satis enim agnitio Dei quid sibi incumbat intellegit. Ne tamen ut extraneum de obsequio uideamur interiecisse, ipsum quoque obsequium de patientia trahitur: numquam inpatiens obsequitur aut patiens quis [non] obluctatur.

[5] Nor [need we say] more about the exhibition of the obedience owed by us to the Lord God: for the acknowledgment of God well understands what is incumbent upon it. Lest, however, we seem to have interjected something extraneous about obedience, obedience itself also is drawn from patience: the impatient never obeys, nor does a patient person [not] struggle against.

[6] Quam ergo dominus, omnium bonorum et demonstrator et acceptator Deus, in semetipso circumtulit, quis de bono eius late retractet? Cui enim dubium sit omne bonum, quia ad Deum pertineat, pertinentibus ad Deum tota mente sectandum? Per quae in expedito et quasi in praescriptionis compendio et commendatio et exhortatio de patientia constituta est.

[6] Which patience, therefore, the Lord—God, the demonstrator and acceptor of all good things—carried about in himself, who would at length discourse about his good? For to whom would it be doubtful that every good, since it pertains to God, is to be followed with the whole mind by those pertaining to God? Through which things, in what is clear and, as it were, in a compendium of a prescription, both a commendation and an exhortation concerning patience has been established.

[1] Verumtamen procedere disputationem de necessariis fidei non est otiosum, quia nec infructuosum: loquacitas in aedificatione nulla [turpis], si quando, turpis.

[1] Nevertheless, to proceed with a disputation about the necessaries of the faith is not idle, since neither unfruitful: loquacity in edification is at no time [disgraceful], if ever, disgraceful.

[2] Itaque si de aliquo bono sermo est, res postulat contrarium eius quoque boni recensere: quid enim sectandum sit, magis inluminabis, si quid uitandum sit proinde digesseris.

[2] Therefore, if there is discourse about some good, the matter demands that you also review the contrary of that good: for you will illuminate more clearly what is to be pursued, if you likewise shall have digested what is to be avoided.

[3] Consideremus igitur de inpatientia an, sicut patientia in Deo, ita aduersaria eius in aduersario nostro nata atque comperta sit, ut ex isto appareat quam principaliter fidei aduersetur.

[3] Let us, therefore, consider about impatience whether, just as patience is in God, so its adversary has been born and discovered in our adversary, so that from this it may appear how principally it is adverse to the faith.

[4] Nam quod ab aemulo Dei conceptum est utique non est amicum Dei rebus. Eadem discordia est rerum quae et auctorum: porro cum Deus optimus, diabolus e contrario pessimus, ipsa sui diuersitate testantur neutrum alteri facere, ut nobis non magis a malo aliquid boni quam a bono aliquid mali editum uideri possit.

[4] For that which has been conceived by the rival of God is assuredly not friendly to the things of God. The same discord is of the things as also of their authors: furthermore, since God is best, the devil, on the contrary, is worst, by their very diversity they testify that neither acts for the other, so that it cannot seem to us that anything of good is produced from evil any more than anything of evil from good.

[5] Igitur natales inpatientiae in ipso diabolo deprehendo, iam tunc cum dominum Deum uniuersa opera [sua] quae fecisset imagini suae, id est homini, subiecisse inpatienter tulit.

[5] Therefore I apprehend the birth-origins of impatience in the Devil himself, already then, when he bore with impatience that the Lord God had subjected all his works which he had made to his image, that is, to man.

[6] Nec enim doluisset si sustinuisset, nec [enim] inuidisset homini si non doluisset: adeo decepit eum quia inuiderat, inuiderat autem quia doluerat, doluerat quia patienter utique non tulerat.

[6] For he would not have grieved if he had endured, nor [indeed] would he have envied the human if he had not grieved: so much was he deceived because he had envied; he had envied, however, because he had grieved; he had grieved because, assuredly, he had not borne it patiently.

[7] Quid primum fuerit ille angelus perditionis, malus an inpatiens, contemno quaerere, palam cum sit aut inpatientiam cum malitia aut malitiam ab inpatientia auspicatam, deinde inter se conspirasse et indiuiduas in uno patris sinu adoleuisse.

[7] What that angel of perdition was first—evil or impatient—I disdain to inquire, since it is manifest either that impatience along with malice, or that malice inaugurated from impatience, then conspired between themselves and grew up indivisible in the one bosom of the father.

[8] Atenim quam primus senserat, per quam primus delinquere intrauerat, de suo experimento quid ad peccandum adiutaret instructus, eandem inpingendo in crimen homini aduocauit.

[8] For indeed that which he had first sensed, through which he had first entered to transgress, from his own experiment, instructed as to what would aid toward sinning, he called in the same against the man by impelling him into crime.

[9] Conuenta statim illi mulier, non temere dixerim, per conloquium ipsum eius adflata est spiritu inpatientia infecto: usque adeo numquam omnino peccasset, si diuino interdicto patientiam praeseruasset!

[9] The woman, immediately accosted by him, I would not say rashly, through his very colloquy was afflated with a spirit infected with impatience: to such a degree she would never at all have sinned, if she had preserved patience with respect to the divine interdict!

[10] Quid quod non sustinuit sola conuenta, sed apud Adam, nondum maritum, nondum aures sibi debentem, inpatiens etiam tacendi est ac traducem [ad] illum eius quod a malo hauserat facit?

[10] And what of this: that she did not endure, when convened, to be alone, but, in Adam’s presence— not yet a husband, not yet owing his ears to her— she is impatient even of keeping silence and makes him the conveyor of that which she had drawn from the Evil One?

[11] Perit igitur et alius homo per inpatientiam alterius, peritimmo et ipse per inpatientiam suam utrobique commissam, et circa Dei praemonitionem et circa diaboli circumscriptionem, illam seruare, hanc refutare non sustinens.

[11] Therefore another man also perishes through the impatience of another; nay,indeed he himself also perishes through his own impatience, committed on both sides—both concerning God’s premonition and concerning the devil’s circumvention—not enduring to preserve the former and to refute the latter.

[12] Hinc prima iudicii unde delicti prigo, hinc Deus irasci exorsus unde offendere homo inductus, inde in Deo prima patientia unde indignatio prima, qui tunc maledictione sola contentus ab animaduersionis impetu in diabolo temperauit.

[12] Hence the first judgment whence the origin of the delict, hence God began to be angry, whence man was induced to offend, thence in God the first patience whence the first indignation, who then, content with a curse alone, restrained himself from the impetus of animadversion upon the devil.

[13] Aut quod crimen ante istud inpatientiae admissum homini inputatur? Innocens erat et Deo de proximo amicus et paradisi colonus: at ubi semel succidit inpatientiae, desiuit Deo sapere, desiuit caelestia sustinere posse.

[13] Or what crime, before this of impatience, is imputed to man? He was innocent and a proximate friend to God and a colonist of Paradise: but when once he succumbed to impatience, he ceased to be wise toward God, he ceased to be able to sustain celestial things.

[14] Exinde homo, terrae datus et ab oculis Dei eiectus, facile usurpari ab inpatientia coepit in omne quod Deum offenderet.

[14] Thereafter man, given over to the earth and cast out from the eyes of God, began to be easily usurped by impatience into everything that would offend God.

[15] Nam statim illa semine diaboli concepta, malitiae fecunditate irae filium procreauit; editum suis artibus erudiit: quod enim ipsum Adam et Euam morti inmerserat, docuit et filium ab homicidio incipere.

[15] For at once that one, conceived by the seed of the devil, by the fecundity of malice procreated a son of wrath; the one brought forth she trained by her arts: for that very thing which had plunged Adam and Eve themselves into death, she taught the son also to begin from homicide.

[16] Frustra istud inpatientiae adscripserim, si Cain ille primus homicida et primus fratricida oblationes suas a domino recusatas aequanimiter nec inpatienter tulit, si iratus fratri suo non est, si neminem denique interemit.

[16] In vain would I ascribe that to impatience, if that Cain, the first homicide and the first fratricide, bore with equanimity and not impatiently his oblations refused by the Lord; if he was not angry with his brother; if, finally, he killed no one.

[17] Cum ergo nec occidere potuerit nisi iratus, nec irasci nisi inpatiens, demonstrat quod per iram gessit ad eam referendum a qua [ira] suggesta est.

[17] Therefore, since he could not have killed except being irate, nor be irate except being impatient, it demonstrates that what he carried out through anger is to be referred back to that from which [anger] was suggested.

[18] [Per] Haec inpatientiae tunc infantis quodammodo incunabula. Ceterum quanta mox incrementa! Nec mirum: si prima deliquit, consequens est ut, quia prima, idcirco et sola sit matrix in omne delictum, defundens de suo fonte uarias criminum uenas.

[18] [By] these are, as it were, the incunabula of an impatience then infant. But how great the increments soon after! Nor is it a wonder: if it committed the first offense, it follows that, because it is first, therefore it alone is the matrix for every delict, pouring out from its own fount various veins of crimes.

[19] De homicidio quidem dictum est. Sed ira editum a primordio, etiam quascumque postmodum causas sibi inuenit ad inpatientiam, ut ad originem sui, confert: siue enim quis inimicitiis siue praedae gratia id scelus conficit, prius est ut aut odii aut auaritiae fiat inpatiens.

[19] About homicide indeed it has been said. But anger, having brought it forth from the beginning, also whatever causes thereafter it finds for itself unto impatience, it refers, as to its own origin: for whether someone perpetrates that crime through enmities or for the sake of booty, it is first that he become impatient under either hatred or avarice.

[20] Quidquid compellit, sine inpatientia sui non est ut perfici possit: quis adulterium sine libidinis inpatientia subiit? Quod et si pretio in feminis cogitur, uenditio illa pudicitiae utique inpatientia contemnendi lucri ordinatur.

[20] Whatever compels cannot be brought to completion without its own impatience: who has undergone adultery without the impatience of libido? And even if it is compelled for a price among women, that sale of chastity is assuredly ordered by an impatience of contemning lucre.

[21] Haec ut principalia penes dominum delicta. Iam uero, ut compendio dictum sit, omne peccatum inpatientiae adscribendum. Malum inpatientia est boni.

[21] So much for the principal offenses against the Lord. Now indeed, to speak in brief, every sin is to be ascribed to impatience. Impatience is the evil of good.

Nemo inpudicus non inpatiens pudicitiae et inprobus probitatis et impius pietatis et inquietus quietis, ut malus unusquisque fiat, < si > bonus perseuerare non poterit!

No unchaste person is not impatient of chastity, nor the unscrupulous of probity, nor the impious of piety, nor the unquiet of quiet, so that each one becomes evil, < if > he will not be able to persevere as good!

[22] Talis igitur excetra delictorum cur non dominum offendat inprobatorem malorum? An non ipsum quoque Israel per inpatientiam semper in Deum deliquisse manifestum est?

[22] Such, therefore, a viper of delicts—why should it not offend the Lord, the disapprover of evils? Or is it not manifest that Israel itself too, through impatience, has always transgressed against God?

[23] Exinde cum, oblitus brachii caelestis quo Aegyptiis adflictationibus fuerat extractus, de Aaron deos sibi duces postulat, cum in idolum auri sui conlationes defundit: tam necessarias enim Moysei cum domino congredientis inpatienter exceperat moras!

[23] Thereafter, when, forgetful of the celestial arm by which he had been drawn out from the Egyptian afflictions, he demands from Aaron gods as leaders for himself, as he pours contributions into the idol of his own gold: for he had impatiently taken the delays—so necessary—of Moses meeting with the Lord!

[24] Post mannae escatilem pluuiam, post petrae aquatilem sequellam desperant de domino, tridui sitim non sustinendo; nam haec quoque illis inpatientia a domino exprobratur.

[24] After the edible rain of manna, after the watery following of the rock, they despair of the Lord, not enduring a thirst of three days; for this impatience too is reproached to them by the Lord.

[25] Ac, ne singula peruagemur, numquam non per inpatientiam delinquendo perierunt. Quomodo autem manus prophetis intulerunt nisi per inpatientiam audiendi? domino autem ipso per inpatientiam etiam uidendi!

[25] And, lest we roam through particulars, they never failed to perish by sinning through impatience. How, moreover, did they lay hands upon the prophets except through impatience of hearing? but upon the Lord himself through impatience even of seeing!

Quodsi patientiam inissent, liberarentur.

But if they had entered upon patience, they would be liberated.

VI.

[1] Ipsa adeo est quae fidem et subsequitur et antecedit. Denique Abraham Deo credidit et iustitiae deputatus ab illo est. Sed fidem eius patientia probauit, cum filium inmolare iussus est, ad fidei non temptationem dixerim, sed typicam contestationem.

[1] It is she indeed who both follows faith and precedes it. Finally Abraham believed God and was reckoned to righteousness by him. But patience proved his faith, when he was ordered to immolate his son, not, I would say, for a temptation of faith, but as a typical attestation.

[2] Ceterum Deus quem iustitiae deputasset sciebat: tam graue praeceptum, quod nec domino perfici placebat, patienter et audiuit et, si Deus uoluisset, implesset. Merito ergo benedictus quia et fidelis, merito fidelis quia et patiens!

[2] Moreover, God knew the one whom He had deputed to justice: so weighty a precept, which it pleased not even the Lord to be brought to perfection, he both heard patiently and, if God had willed, he would have fulfilled. Deservedly therefore blessed because also faithful, deservedly faithful because also patient!

[3] Ita fides patientia inluminata, cum in nationes seminaretur per semen Abrahae, quod est Christus, et gratiam legi superduceret, ampliandae adimplendaeque legiadiutricem suam patientiam praefecit, quod ea sola ad iustitiae doctrinam retro defuisset.

[3] Thus faith, illuminated by patience, when it was being sown among the nations through the seed of Abraham, which is Christ, and was superinducing grace upon the Law, appointed patience as its own assistress for the Lawto be amplified and fulfilled, because this alone had previously been lacking to the doctrine of justice.

[4] Nam olim et oculum pro oculo et dentem pro dente repetebant et malum malo fenerabant: nondum enim patientia in terris, quia nec fides scilicet. Interim inpatientia occasionibus legis fruebatur: facile erat, absente domino patientiae et magistro.

[4] For formerly they would exact eye for eye and tooth for tooth, and they requited evil with evil: for patience was not yet on earth, since of course neither was faith. Meanwhile impatience was enjoying the occasions of the law: it was easy, with the lord and teacher of patience absent.

[5] Qui postquam superuenit et gratiam fidei patientia composuit, iam nec uerbo quidem lacessere, nec «fatue» quidem dicere sine iudicii periculo licet; prohibita ira, restricti animi, compressa petulantia manus, exemptum linguae uenenum.

[5] Who, after he supervened and patience combined with the grace of faith, now it is not permitted even to provoke with a word, nor even to say “fool” without danger of judgment; anger prohibited, minds restrained, the petulant hand checked, the venom of the tongue removed.

[6] Plus lex quam amisit inuenit, dicente Christo:Diligite inimicos uestros et maledicentibus benedicite et orate pro persecutoribus uestris ut filii sitis patris uestri caelestis. Vides quem nobis patrem patientia adquirat!

[6] The law found more than it lost, Christ saying:Love your enemies and bless those who curse you and pray for your persecutors, that you may be sons of your heavenly father. You see what father patience acquires for us!

VII.

[1] Hoc principali praecepto uniuersa patientiae disciplina succincta est, quando nec digne quidem malefacere concessum est. Iam uero percurrentibus nobis causas inpatientiae cetera quoque praecepta suis locis respondebunt.

[1] By this principal precept the entire discipline of patience is girded, since it is not granted even to do wrong deservedly. Now indeed, as we run through the causes of impatience, the other precepts also will answer in their places.

[2] Si detrimento rei familiaris animus concitatur, omni paene in loco de contemnendo saeculo scripturis dominicis commonetur, nec maior ad pecuniae contemptum exhortatio subiacet quam quod ipse dominus in nullis diuitiis inuenitur.

[2] If the mind is stirred by the detriment of the household estate, in almost every place he is admonished by the Dominical Scriptures about contemning the world, and no greater exhortation to contempt of money lies at hand than that the Lord himself is found in no riches.

[3] Semper pauperes iustificat, diuites praedamnat. Ita detrimentorum patientiae fastidium opulentiae praeministrauit, demonstrans per abiectionem diuitiarum laesuras quoque earum computandas non esse.

[3] He always justifies the poor, he condemns the rich. Thus he has pre-administered to the patience of losses a distaste for opulence, showing that by the abjection (casting-off) of riches, even their injuries are not to be reckoned.

[4] Quod ergo nobis appetere minime opus est, quia nec dominus appetiuit, detruncatum uel etiam ademptum non aegre sustinere debemus.

[4] What, therefore, it is in no way necessary for us to seek—since the Lord did not seek it either—we ought to sustain, if truncated or even taken away, without difficulty.

[5] Cupiditatem omnium malorum radicem spiritus domini per apostolum pronuntiauit: eam non in concupiscentia alieni tantum constitutam interpretemur. Nam et quod nostrum uidetur alienum est: nihil enim nostrum, quoniam Dei [sunt] omnia, cuius ipsi quoque nos [sumus].

[5] The Spirit of the Lord through the apostle pronounced cupidity the root of all evils: let us interpret it as constituted not only in the concupiscence of another’s property. For even what seems ours is alien: nothing indeed is ours, since all things [are] God’s, to whom we ourselves also [are].

[6] Itaque si damno adfecti inpatienter senserimus, non de nostro amissum dolentes adfines cupiditatis deprehendemur: alienum quaerimus, cum alienum amissum aegre sustinemus.

[6] Therefore, if, having been affected by loss, we feel it impatiently, we shall be detected as neighbors of cupidity, grieving a thing lost that is not ours: we seek what is another’s (what is alien), when we with difficulty endure that what is another’s has been lost.

[7] Qui damni inpatientia concitatur terrena caelestibus anteponendo, de proximo in Deum peccat: spiritum enim quem a domino sumpsit saecularis rei gratia concutit.

[7] He who is stirred by impatience at loss, by preferring the earthly to the heavenly, sins against God through his neighbor: for he shakes the spirit which he received from the Lord for the sake of a secular matter.

[8] Libenter igitur terrena amittamus, caelestia tueamur; totum licet saeculum pereat, dum patientiam lucrifaciam! Iam qui minutum sibi aliquid aut furto aut ui aut etiam ignauia non constanter sustinere constituit, nescio an facile uel ex animo ipse rei suae manum inferre possit in causa elemosinae.

[8] Therefore let us gladly lose the terrestrial things, let us guard the celestial; let the whole world perish, provided that I make a profit of patience! Now whoever has resolved not to endure steadfastly that something minute be taken from him either by theft or by force or even by sloth, I do not know whether he could easily, or from his heart, himself lay a hand upon his own property for the cause of almsgiving.

[9] Quis enim ab alio secari omnino non sustinens ipse ferrum in corpore suo ducit? Patientia in detrimentis exercitatio est largiendi et communicandi: non piget donare eum qui non timet perdere.

[9] For who, utterly unable to endure being cut by another, draws the steel into his own body himself? Patience in losses is an exercise of largesse and of communicating: it is no trouble to donate for him who does not fear to lose.

[10] Alioquin quomodo duas habens tunicas alteram earum nudo dabit, nisi idem sit qui auferenti tunicam etiam pallium offerre possit? Quomodo amicos de mammona fabricabimus nobis, si eum in tantum amauerimus, ut amissum non sufferamus? Peribimus cum perdito.

[10] Otherwise, how will someone having two tunics give one of them to the naked, unless he be the same who can offer even the cloak to the one taking away the tunic? How shall we forge friends for ourselves from Mammon, if we have loved it to such a degree that we do not endure it when it is lost? We shall perish with the lost.

[11] Quid hic inuenimus, ubi habemus amittere? Gentilium est omnibus detrimentis inpatientiam adhibere, [sunt] qui rem pecuniariam fortasse animae anteponant.

[11] What do we find here, where we have to lose? It is of the Gentiles to apply impatience to all detriments; [there are] those who perhaps place the pecuniary matter before the soul.

[12] Nam et faciunt, cum lucri cupiditatibus quaestuosa pericula mercimoniorum in mari exercent, cum pecuniae causa etiam in foro nihil damnationi timendum adgredi dubitant, cum denique ludo et castris sese locant, cum per uias inmemores bestiarum latrocinantur.

[12] For they do as well, when, by cupidities of lucre, they carry on the gainful perils of merchandizings on the sea; when, for the sake of money, even in the forum they do not hesitate to undertake anything to be feared for condemnation; when, finally, they hire themselves out to the gladiatorial school and to the camps; when along the roads, unmindful of beasts, they engage in brigandage.

[13] Nos uero, secundum diuersitatem qua cum illis stamus, non animam pro pecunia, sed pecuniam pro anima deponere conuenit, seu sponte in largiendo seu patienter in amittendo!

[13] But we, in keeping with the difference in which we stand over against them, it is fitting to lay down not the soul for money, but money for the soul, whether of our own accord in giving largesse or patiently in losing!

VIII.

[1] Ipsam animam ipsumque corpus in saeculo isto expositum omnibus ad iniuriam gerimus eiusque iniuriae patientiam subimus: et minorum delibatione laedemur? Absit a seruo Christi tale inquinamentum, ut patientia maioribus temptationibus praeparata in friuolis excidat!

[1] We bear the very soul and the very body in this age as exposed to all injury, and we submit to the patience of that injury: and shall we be injured by a mere tasting of lesser things? Far be such a defilement from the servant of Christ, that patience, prepared for greater temptations, should fall away in frivolities!

[2] Si manu quis temptauerit prouocare, praesto est dominica monela:Verberanti te, inquit, infaciem etiam alteram genam obuerte. Fatigetur inprobitas patientia tua: quiuis ictus ille sit dolore et contumelia constrictus, grauius a domino uapulabit; plus inprobum illum caedes sustinendo: ab eo enim uapulabit cuius gratia sustines.

[2] If anyone tries to provoke with his hand, the Lord’s monition is at hand:To the one striking you, he says, turn the other cheek to the face as well. Let improbity be wearied by your patience: let that fellow, whatever the blow, be constrained with pain and contumely; he will be beaten more grievously by the Lord; you will smite that reprobate more by enduring the blows: for he will be beaten by him for whose sake you endure.

[3] Si linguae amaritudo maledicto siue conuicio eruperit, respice dictum:Cum uos maledixerint gaudete. Dominus ipse maledictus in lege estet tamen solus est benedictus. Igitur dominum serui consequamur et maledicamur patienter, ut benedicti esse possimus!

[3] If the bitterness of the tongue erupts into malediction or invective, look to the dictum:When they curse you, rejoice. The Lord himself is accursed in the Lawand yet he alone is blessed. Therefore let us, servants, follow the Lord and be cursed with patience, so that we may be able to be blessed!

[4] Si parum aequanimiter audiam dictum aliquod in me proteruum aut nequam, reddam et ipse amaritudinis uicem necesse est aut cruciabor inpatientia muta.

[4] If I hear with too little equanimity some remark against me, insolent or wicked, I too must repay bitterness in kind, or I shall be excruciated by mute impatience.

[5] Cum ergo percussero maledictus, quomodo secutus inueniar doctrinam domini, qua traditum est non uasculorum inquinamentis, sed eorum quae ex ore promuntur hominem communicari, item manere nos omnis uani et superuacui dicti reatum?

[5] Therefore, when, having been accursed, I strike back, how shall I be found to have followed the doctrine of the Lord, by which it has been handed down that not by the defilements of vessels, but by the things which are brought forth from the mouth, is a man made common (defiled); likewise, that for us the guilt of every vain and superfluous saying remains?

[6] Sequitur ergo ut, a quo nos dominus arcet, idem ab alio aequanimiter pati admoneat.

[6] It follows, therefore, that what the Lord restrains us from, he likewise admonishes us to suffer with equanimity when it comes from another.

[7] Hic iam de patientiae uoluptate. Nam omnis iniuria seu lingua seu manu incussa, cum patientiam offenderit, eodem exitu dispungetur, quo telum aliquod in petra constantissimae duritiae libratum et obtusum: concidet enim ibidem, inrita opera et infructuosa, et nonnumquam repercussum in eum qui remisit reciproco impetu saeuiet.

[7] Here now about the delight of patience. For every injury, whether by tongue or by hand inflicted, when it has encountered patience, will be expunged with the same outcome as some missile aimed against a rock of most steadfast hardness and blunted: for it will fall down there, the effort ineffectual and fruitless; and sometimes, rebounding upon him who launched it, it will rage with a returning onrush.

[8] Nempe idcirco quis te laedit ut doleas, quia fructus laedentis in dolore laesi est. Ergo cum fructum eius euerteris non dolendo, ipse doleat necesse est amissione fructus sui.

[8] Indeed, for this reason someone hurts you, that you may sorrow, because the fruit of the hurter is in the sorrow of the hurt. Therefore, when you overturn his fruit by not sorrowing, he must himself sorrow at the loss of his fruit.

[9] Tunc tu non modo inlaesus ibis (quod etiam solum tibi sufficit), sed insuper aduersarii tui et frustratione oblectatus et dolore defensus. Haec est patientiae et utilitas et uoluptas!

[9] Then you will go not only unharmed (which even by itself suffices for you), but moreover both delighted by your adversary’s frustration and defended by his pain. This is both the utility and the pleasure of patience!

IX.

[1] Ne illa quidem inpatientiae species excusatur in amissione nostrorum, ubi aliqua doloris patrocinatur adsertio. Praeponendus est enim respectus denuntiationis apostoli, qui ait:Ne contristemini dormitione cuiusquam sicut nationes quae spe carent.

[1] Not even that form of impatience is excused in the loss of our own, where some assertion of grief offers advocacy. For the regard for the apostle’s admonition is to be preferred, who says:Do not be saddened at anyone’s falling asleep, like the nations who lack hope.

[2] Et merito: credentes enim resurrectionem Christi, in nostram quoque credimus, propter quos ille et obiit et resurrexit. Ergo cum constet de resurrectione mortuorum, uacat dolor mortis, uacat et inpatientia doloris.

[2] And with good reason: for believing the resurrection of Christ, we also believe in our own, for whose sake he both died and rose again. Therefore, since it is established concerning the resurrection of the dead, the grief of death is void, and the impatience of grief is void as well.

[3] Cur enim doleas, si perisse non credis? Cur inpatienter feras subductum interim quem credis reuersurum? Profectio est quam putas mortem.

[3] Why indeed do you grieve, if you do not believe that he has perished? Why do you bear with impatience the one withdrawn for the meantime, whom you believe will return? It is a departure that you suppose to be death.

Non est lugendus qui antecedit, sed plane desiderandus. Id quoque desiderium patientia temperandum: cur enim inmoderate feras abisse quem mox subsequeris?

He is not to be mourned who goes before, but indeed to be longed for. This desire too must be tempered by patience: for why should you bear immoderately the departure of him whom you will soon follow?

[4] Ceterum inpatientia in huiusmodi et spei nostrae male ominatur et fidem praeuaricatur, et Christum laedimus cum euocatos quosque ab illo quasi miserandos non aequanimiter accipimus.

[4] However, impatience in matters of this kind both bodes ill for our hope and prevaricates our faith, and we wound Christ when we do not receive with equanimity those whom he has called forth, as though to be pitied.

[5]Cupio, inquit apostolus, recipi iam et esse cum domino. Quanto melius ostendit uotum! Christianorum ergo uotum, si alios consecutos inpatienter dolemus, ipsi consequi nolumus!

[5]I desire, says the apostle, to be received now and to be with the Lord. How much better he shows the vow! Therefore the vow of Christians, if we impatiently grieve that others have attained it, we ourselves are unwilling to attain it!

10.

[1] Est et alius summus inpatientiae stimulus, ultionis libido, negotium curans aut gloriae aut malitiae. Sed et gloria ubique uana et malitia numquam non domino odiosa, hoc quidem loco cum maxime, cum alterius malitia prouocata superiorem se in exsequenda ultione constituit et remuneraris nequam duplicat quod semel factum est.

[1] There is also another highest goad of impatience, the lust for vengeance, attending a business either of glory or of malice. But both glory is everywhere vain, and malice is never not odious to the Lord—most of all in this case, when, provoked by another’s malice, it sets itself up as the superior in executing vengeance, and a wicked remuneration doubles what once was done.

[2] Vltio penes errorem solacium uidetur doloris, penes ueritatem certamen redarguitur malignitatis. Quid enim refert inter prouocantem et prouocatum, nisi quod ille prior in maleficio deprehenditur, at ille posterior? Tamen uterque laesi hominis domino reus est qui omne nequam et prohibet et damnat.

[2] Vengeance, under error, seems a solace of pain; under truth, it is refuted as a contest of malignity. For what difference is there between the one provoking and the one provoked, except that the former is caught earlier in the misdeed, but the latter later? Yet each is guilty to the Lord of the injured man, who both forbids and condemns every wicked thing.

[3] Nulla in maleficio ordinis ratio est nec locus secefnit quod similitudo coniungit. Absolute itaque praecipitur malum malo non rependendum: par factum par habet meritum.

[3] No reckoning of order exists in wrongdoing, nor does place separate what likeness unites. Therefore it is absolutely enjoined that evil is not to be repaid with evil: an equal deed has an equal desert.

[4] Quomodo id obseruabimus, si [fastidientes] in fastidio ultionis non erimus? quem autem honorem litabimus domino Deo, si nobis arbitrium defensionis arrogauerimus?

[4] How shall we observe that, if, being [fastidious], we are not in a loathing of vengeance? what honor, moreover, shall we sacrifice to the Lord God, if we have arrogated to ourselves the authority of defense?

[5] Nos putres, uasa fictilia, seruulis nostris adsumentibus sibi de conseruis ultionem grauiter offendimur eosque qui nobis patientiam obtulerint suam ut memores humilitatis seruitutis, ius dominici honoris diligentes, non probamus modo, sed ampliorem quam ipsi sibi praesumpsissent satisfactionem facimus: id nobis in domino tam iusto ad aestimandum, tam potenti ad perficiendum periclitatur?

[5] We, putrid, earthen vessels, are gravely offended when our little slaves, taking to themselves vengeance upon their fellow-servants; and those who have offered to us their patience—as mindful of the humility of servitude, diligent for the right of the Lord’s honor—we not only approve, but we make satisfaction greater than they themselves would have presumed for themselves: is that for us with the Lord, so just for estimating, so powerful for accomplishing, in jeopardy?

[6] Quid ergo credimus iudicem illum, si non et ultorem? Hoc se nobis repromittit dicens:Vindictam mihi et ego uindicabo, id est: «patientiam mihi et ego patientiam remunerabo».

[6] What, then, do we believe that judge to be, if not also an avenger? He promises this to us, saying:Vengeance to me, and I will vindicate, that is: «patience to me, and I will remunerate patience».

[7] Cum enim dicit:Nolite iudicare ne iudicemini, nonne patientiam flagitat? Quis enim non iudicabit alium, nisi qui patiens erit non defendi? Quis idcirco iudicat ut ignoscat?

[7] For when he says:Do not judge, lest you be judged, does he not demand patience? For who will not judge another, except the one who will be patient to go undefended? Who, for that reason, judges so that he may forgive?

Ac si ignoscet, tamen iudicantis inpatientiam non cauit et honorem unici iudicis, id est Dei, abstulit!

And if he does forgive, nevertheless he did not avoid the impatience of the one judging, and he has taken away the honor of the only judge, that is, of God!

[8] Quantos uero casus huiusmodi inpatientia incursare consueuerat, quotiens paenituit defensionem, quotiens instantia eius deterior inuenta est causis suis, quoniam nihil inpatientia susceptum sine impetu transigi nouit, nihil impetu actum non aut offendit aut corruit aut praeceps abiit!

[8] But how many mishaps has impatience of this sort been wont to incur, how often has it repented of a defense, how often has its insistence been found worse than its own causes, since impatience knows how to carry through nothing undertaken without an impulse—everything done in a rush either offends, or collapses, or goes headlong!

[9] Iam si leuius defendaris, insanies; si uberius, oneraberis. Quid mihi cum ultione, cuius modum regere non possum per inpatientiam doloris? Quodsi patientiae incubabo, non dolebo; si non dolebo, ulcisci non desiderabo.

[9] Now if you are defended more lightly, you will go insane; if more copiously, you will be burdened. What have I to do with vengeance, whose measure I cannot govern through the impatience of pain? But if I rest upon patience, I shall not feel pain; if I do not feel pain, I shall not desire to take vengeance.

XI.

11.

[1] Post has principales inpatientiae materias ut potuimus regestas, quid inter ceteras euagemur quae domi, quae foris? Lata atque diffusa est operatio mali multipliciaipsius incitamenta iaculantis et modo paruula, modo maxima.

[1] After we have, as we could, reviewed these principal materials of impatience, why should we wander among the rest—those at home, those abroad? Broad and diffused is the operation of evil, hurling the manifold incitements ofits own, now very small, now very great.

[2] Sed paruula de sua mediocritate contemnas, maximis pro sua exuperantia cedas. Vbi minor iniuria, ibi nulla necessitas patientiae; at ubi maior iniuria, ibi necessarior iniuriae medela, patientia.

[2] But the small things you may disdain by their own mediocrity; to the greatest you should yield by their own preeminence. Where the injury is lesser, there is no necessity of patience; but where the injury is greater, there the remedy for injury is more necessary—patience.

[3] Certemus igitur quae a malo infliguntur sustinere, ut hostis studium aemulatio nostrae aequanimitatis eludat. Si uero quaedam ipsi in nos aut inprudentia aut sponte etiam superducimus, aeque patienter obeamus quae nobis inputamus.

[3] Let us therefore contend to sustain the things inflicted by evil, so that the enemy’s zeal may be foiled by the emulation of our equanimity. But if indeed we ourselves also bring certain things upon us either through imprudence or of our own accord, let us equally patiently undergo the things which we impute to ourselves.

[4] Quodsi a domino nonnulla credimus incuti, cui magis patientiam quam domino praebeamus? Quin insuper gratulari et gaudere nos docet dignatione diuinae castigationis:Ego, inquit, quos diligo castigo. O seruum illum beatum cuius emendationi dominus instat, cui dignatur irasci, quem admonendi dissimulatione non decipit!

[4] But if we believe that certain things are inflicted by the lord, to whom should we offer patience rather than to the lord? Nay more, he teaches us to congratulate and to rejoice at the dignation of divine castigation:I, he says, chastise those whom I love. O that blessed servant whose emendation the lord presses, at whom he deigns to be angry, whom he does not deceive by a dissimulation of admonishing!

[5] Vndique igitur adstricti sumus officio patientiae administrandae, qui aliqua ex parte aut erroribus nostris aut mali insidiis aut admonitionibus domini interuenimus. Eius officii magna merces, felicitas scilicet.

[5] On all sides, therefore, we are constrained to the office of administering patience, we who in some part have come into it either by our own errors, or by the ambushes of evil, or by the admonitions of the Lord. The great recompense of that office—felicity, namely.

[6] Quos enim felices dominus nisi patientes nuncupauit dicendo:Beati pauperes spiritu, illorum est enim regnum caelorum? Nullus profecto spiritu pauper nisi humilis: quis enim humilis nisi patiens, quia nemo subicere sese potest sine prima patientia subiectionis ipsius?

[6] For whom did the Lord call happy except the patient, by saying:Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens? No one, assuredly, is poor in spirit unless humble: for who is humble except the patient, since no one can subject himself without the first patience of subjection itself?

[7]Beati, inquit, flentes atque lugentes. Quis talia sine patientia tolerat? Itaque talibus et aduocatio et risus promittitur.

[7]Blessed, he says, the weeping and mourning. Who endures such things without patience? Therefore to such both consolation and laughter are promised.

[8]Beati mites. Hoc quidem uocabulo inpatientes non licet omnino censeri. Item cum pacificos eodem titulo felicitatis notat et filios Dei nuncupat, numquid inpatientes pacis adfines?

[8]Blessed are the meek. By this very term it is by no means permitted that the impatient be reckoned. Likewise, when he notes the pacific with the same title of felicity and denominates them sons of God, are the impatient allied to peace?

Stultus hoc senserit!

Let a fool think this!

[9] Cum ueroGaudete et exultate dicit, quotiens uos maledicent et persequentur: merces enim uestra plurima in caelo, id utique non exultationis inpatientiae pollicetur, quia nemo in aduersis exultabit, nisi ante contempserit ea, nemo contemnet, nisi patientiam gesserit.

[9] When indeed he says,Rejoice and exult he says, as often as they will speak ill of you and persecute [you]: for your reward is very great in heaven, he surely does not promise the exultation of impatience, because no one will exult in adversities unless first he has contemned them; no one will contemn unless he has exercised patience.

XII.

12.

[1] Quod < ad > pacis gratissimae Deo adtinet disciplinam, quis omnino inpatientiae natus uel semel ignoscet fratri suo, non dicam septies et septuagies septies?

[1] As far as the discipline of peace most pleasing to God is concerned, who, altogether born of impatience, will forgive his brother even once? I will not say seven times and seventy times seven.

[2] Quis ad iudicem cum aduersario suo dirigens negotium conuenientia soluet, nisi prius iram dolorem duritiam amaritudinem, uenena scilicet inpatientiae, amputarit?

[2] Who, bringing his case before the judge with his adversary, will resolve it by agreement, unless he shall first have cut away anger, pain, hardness, bitterness—the poisons, namely, of impatience?

[3] Quomodo remittes et remittetur tibi, si tenax iniuriae per absentiam patientiae fueris? Nemo conuulsus animum in fratrem suum munus apud altare perficiet, nisi prius reconciliando fratri reuersus ad patientiam fuerit.

[3] How will you remit, and it will be remitted to you, if you are tenacious of an injury through the absence of patience? No one, with his mind convulsed against his brother, will complete the gift at the altar, unless first, by reconciling with his brother, he shall have returned to patience.

[4] Sol super iram nostram si occiderit, periclitamur: non licet nobis lina die sine patientia manere.

[4] If the sun sets upon our wrath, we are in peril: it is not permitted for us to remain for a single day without patience.

Atenim cum omnen speciem salutaris disciplinae gubernet, quid mirum quod etiam paenitentiae ministrat solitae lapsis subuenire?

For indeed, since it governs every form of salutary discipline, what wonder is it that it also ministers to penitence, accustomed to come to the aid of the lapsed?

[5] Haec expectat, haec exoptat, haec exorat paenitentiam quandoque inituris salutem. Cum disiuncto matrimonio — ex ea tamen causa qua licet seu uiro seu feminae ad uiduitatis perseuerantiam sustineri — alterum adulterum non facit, alterum emendat, quantum boni utrique confert!

[5] This waits for, this longs for, this entreats salvation for those who will someday enter upon penitence. When a marriage is severed — yet for that cause on which it is permitted that either the man or the woman be sustained for perseverance in widowhood — it does not make the one an adulterer, it amends the other; how much good it confers upon both!

[6] Sic et [in] illis dominicarum similitudinum exemplis de paenitentia sanctis adest: erroneam ouem patientia pastoris requirit et inuenit (nam inpatientia unam facile contemneret, sed laborem inquisitionis patientia suscipit) et humeris insuper aduehit baiulus patiens peccatricem derelictam.

[6] Thus also, [in] those examples of the Lord’s parables about repenitance, patience is present for the saints: the patience of the shepherd seeks and finds the errant sheep (for impatience would easily contemn the one, but patience undertakes the labor of inquisition), and moreover upon his shoulders he carries, as a patient bearer, the abandoned sinner.

[7] Illum quoque prodigum filium patientia patris et recipit et uestit et pascit et apud inpatientiam irati fratris excusat. Saluus est igitur qui perierat, quia paenitentiam iniit; paenitentia non perit, quia patientiam inuenit.

[7] The father's patience both receives and clothes and feeds that prodigal son as well, and excuses him before the impatience of the angry brother. Saved, therefore, is he who had perished, because he entered upon penitence; penitence does not perish, because it has found patience.

[8] Nam dilectio, summum fidei sacramentum, Christiani nominis thesaurus, quam apostolus totis uiribus sancti spiritus commendat, cuius nisi patientiae disciplinis eruditur?

[8] For love, the supreme sacrament of faith, the treasure of the Christian name, which the apostle commends with all the powers of the Holy Spirit—by what is it educated, if not by the disciplines of patience?

[9]Dilectio, inquit, magnanimis est: id a patientia sumit; benefica est: malum patientia non facit; non aemulatur: id quidem inpatientiae proprium est; nec proteruum sapit: modestiam de patientia traxit; non inflatur, non proteruit: non enim ad patientiam pertinet; nec sua requirit: suffert sua, dum alteri prosit; nec incitatur: ceterum quid inpatientiae reliquisset? Ideo, inquit, dilectio omnia sustinet, omnia tolerat, utique quia [ipse] patiens.

[9]Love, he says, is magnanimous: that it takes from patience; is beneficent: patience does no evil; does not envy: that indeed is proper to impatience; nor savors of insolence: it has drawn modesty from patience; is not inflated, does not act insolently: for that does not pertain to patience; nor does it seek its own: it bears its own, while it may benefit another; nor is it provoked: otherwise, what would he have left to impatience? Therefore, he says, dilection bears all things, tolerates all things, assuredly because [itself] patient.

[10] Merito ergo numquam excidet. Nam cetera euacuabuntur consummabuntur: exhauriuntur linguae scientiae prophetiae, permanent autem fides spes dilectio, fides quam Christi patientia induxit, spes quam hominis patientia expectat, dilectio quam Deo magistro patientia comitatur.

[10] Deservedly, therefore, it will never fall away. For the rest will be evacuated, will be consummated: tongues, sciences, prophecies are exhausted, however faith, hope, love remain—the faith which Christ’s patience introduced, the hope which man’s patience expects, the love which patience accompanies, with God as teacher.

XIII.

13.

[1] Vsque huc de patientia tandem simplici et uniformi et tantum in animo constituta, cum eandem etiam in corpore demerendo domino multipliciter adlaboremus, utpote quae ab ipso domino in corporis quoque uirtute edita est, siquidem rector animus facile communicat spiritus inuecta cum habitaculo suo.

[1] Up to this point, then, about patience that is simple and uniform and established only in the mind, since we likewise in many ways endeavour for the same in the body in serving the Lord, inasmuch as it has been brought forth by the Lord himself also in the body’s virtue, since indeed the ruling mind readily communicates the things brought in by the Spirit to its dwelling-place.

[2] Quae igitur negotiatio patientiae in corpore? Inprimis adflictatio carnis, hostia domino placatoria per humiliationis sacrificium, cum sordes cum angustia uictus domino libat, contenta simplici pabulo puroque potu, cum ieiunia coniungit, cum cineri et sacco inolescit.

[2] What, then, is the business of patience in the body? In the first place, the affliction of the flesh, a placatory host to the Lord through the sacrifice of humiliation, when it libates to the Lord squalor along with the narrowness of diet, content with simple pabulum and pure drink, when it conjoins fasts, when it grows into ashes and sackcloth.

[3] Haec patientia corporis precationes commendat, deprecationes adfirmat; haec aures [Christi] Dei aperit, seueritatem dispergit, clementiam elicit.

[3] This patience of the body commends prayers, confirms supplications; this opens the ears of [Christ] God, scatters severity, elicits clemency.

[4] Sic ille rex Babylonius, offenso domino, cum squalore et paedore septenni, ab humana forma exulasset, immolata patientia corporis sui, et regnum recuperauit et, quod optabilius homini est, satis Deo fecit.

[4] Thus that Babylonian king, with the Lord offended, with seven-year squalor and foulness, had been exiled from human form; with the patience of his body immolated, he both recovered his kingdom and, what is more desirable for a man, made satisfaction to God.

[5] Iam si altiores et feliciores gradus corporalis patientiae digeramus, eadem sanctitati quoque procurat continentia carnis: haec et uiduam tenet et uirginem adsignat et uoluntarium spadonem ad regna caeli leuat.

[5] Now, if we set in order the higher and more felicitous grades of bodily patience, the same continence of the flesh also procures sanctity: this both holds the widow and assigns the virgin, and elevates the voluntary eunuch to the kingdoms of heaven.

[6] Quod de uirtute animi uenit in carne perficitur: carnis patientia in persecutionibus denique proeliatur. Si fuga urgeat, incommoda fugae caro militat; si et carcer praeueniat, caro in uinculis, caro in ligno, caro in solo, et in illa paupertate lucis et in illa penuria mundi.

[6] What comes from the virtue of the mind is perfected in the flesh: the patience of the flesh at last wages battle in persecutions. If flight press, the flesh is a soldier amid the incommodities of flight; and if prison forestall, flesh in chains, flesh on the wood, flesh on the ground, and in that poverty of light and in that penuria mundi.

[7] Cum uero producitur ad experimentum felicitatis, ad occasionem secundae intinctionis, ad ipsum diuinae sedis ascensum, nulla plus illic quam patientia corporis. Sispiritus promptus, sed caro (sine patientia) infirma, ubi salus spiritus et carnis ipsius?

[7] But when one is brought forth to the testing of felicity, to the occasion of the second intinction, to the very ascent to the divine seat, nothing there avails more than the patience of the body. Ifthe spirit ready, but the flesh (without patience) weak, where is the salvation of the spirit and of the flesh itself?

[8] At cum hoc dominus de carne dicit, infirmam pronuntians, quid ei firmandae opus sit ostendit, patientia scilicet, aduersus omnem subuertendae fidei uel puniendae paraturam, ut uerbera, ut ignem, ut crucem bestias gladium constantissime toleret quae prophetae, quae apostoli sustinendo uicerunt.

[8] But when the Lord says this about the flesh, pronouncing it weak, he shows what is needed for strengthening it—namely patience—against every preparation for subverting the faith or for punishing, so that it may most steadfastly endure blows, fire, cross, beasts, sword, which the prophets, which the apostles overcame by enduring.

XIV.

14.

[1] His patientiae uiribus secatur Esaias et de domino non tacet, lapidatur Stephanus et ueniam hostibus suis postulat.

[1] By these strengths of patience Isaiah is sawn asunder and does not keep silent about the Lord; Stephen is stoned and asks pardon for his enemies.

[2] O felicissimum illum quoque, qui omnem patientiae speciem aduersus omnem diaboli uim expunxit, quem non abacti greges, non illae in pecore diuitiae, non filii uno ruinae impetu adempti, non ipsius denique corporis in uulnere cruciatus a patientiae fide domino debita exclusit, quem diabolus totis uiribus frustra cecidit!

[2] O most blessed that one too, who exhausted every form of patience against every force of the devil, whom neither the driven-off flocks, nor those riches in cattle, nor the sons taken away by a single rush of ruin, nor, finally, the torment of his very body in its wound, shut out from the faith of patience, the debt owed to the Lord—whom the devil with all his forces struck down in vain!

[3] Neque enim a respectu Dei tot doloribus auocatus ille est, sed constitit nobis in exemplum et testimonium tam spiritu quam carae, tam animo quam corpore patientiae perpetrandae, ut neque damnis saecularium nec amissionibus carissimorum nec corporis quidem conflictationibus succidamus.

[3] For neither was he diverted from the regard of God by so many pains, but he stood for us as an example and testimony, as much in spirit as in flesh, as much in mind as in body, for the accomplishing of patience, so that we be not cut down by the losses of secular things, nor by the losses of our most dear ones, nor even by the conflicts of the body.

[4] Quale in illo uiro feretrum Deus de diabolo extruxit, quale uexillum de inimico gloriae suae extulit, cum ille homo ad omnem acerbum nuntium nihil ex ore promeret nisi « Deo gratias », cum uxorem iam malis delassatam et ad praua remedia suadentem execraretur!

[4] What a bier in that man did God construct out of the devil, what a banner from the enemy of his glory did he raise aloft, when that man, at every bitter message, brought forth nothing from his mouth except « Thanks be to God », when he execrated his wife, already wearied by misfortunes and urging depraved remedies!

[5] Quid? ridebat Deus, quid? dissecabatur malus, cum Iob inmundam ulceris sui redundantiam magna aequanimitate destringeret, cum erumpentes bestiolas inde in eosdem specus et pastus refossae carnis ludendo reuocaret!

[5] What? Was God laughing, what? Was the Evil One being dissected, when Job, with great equanimity, was scraping off the unclean redundancy of his ulcer, when, in sport, he would call back the little beasts bursting forth from there into the same caves and pastures of the re-dug flesh!

[6] Itaque operarius ille uictoriae Dei, retusis omnibus iaculis temptationum lorica clipeoque patientiae, et integritatem mox corporis a Deo recuperauit et quae amiserat conduplicata possedit.

[6] Therefore that workman of the victory of God, with all the javelins of temptations blunted by the lorica and clipeus of patience, both soon recovered the integrity of his body from God and possessed what he had lost, conduplicated.

[7] Et si filios quoque restitui uoluisset, pater iterum uocaretur. Sed maluit in illo die reddi sibi: tantum gaudii securus [sit] de domino distulit, sustinuiteam uoluntariam orbitatem, ne sine aliqua patientia uiueret!

[7] And if he had also wished his sons to be restored, he would be called father again. But he preferred to have it repaid to him on that day: confident concerning the Lord he deferred so great a joy, he endured that voluntary childlessness, lest he live without some patience!

XV.

15.

[1] Adeo satis idoneus patientiae sequester Deus: si iniuriam deposueris penes eum, ultor est; si damnum, restitutor est; si dolorem, medicus est; si mortem, resuscitator est. Quantum patientiae licet, ut Deum habeat debitorem!

[1] To such a degree God is a sufficiently apt sequester of patience: if you deposit an injury with him, he is an avenger; if a loss, he is a restitutor; if pain, he is a physician; if death, he is a resuscitator. How much is permitted to patience, that it may have God as a debtor!

[2] Nec inmerito [enim]. Omnia enim placita eius tuetur, omnibus mandatis eius interuenit: fidem munit, pacem gubernat, dilectionem adiuuat, humilitatem instruit, paenitentiam expectat, exhomologesin adsignat, carnem regit, spiritum seruat, linguam frenat, manum continet, temptationes inculcat, scandala pellit, martyria consummat;

[2] Nor undeservedly [indeed]. For he protects all his decrees, intervenes in all his mandates: he fortifies faith, governs peace, aids love, instructs humility, awaits penitence, assigns exhomologesis (confession), rules the flesh, preserves the spirit, bridles the tongue, restrains the hand, tramples down temptations, drives away scandals, consummates martyrdoms;

[3] pauperem consolatur, diuitem temperat, infirmum non extendit, ualentem non consumit, fidelem delectat, gentilem inuitat; seraum domino, dominum Deo commendat, feminam exornat, uirum adprobat; amatur in puero, laudatur in iuuene, suspicitur in sene; in omni sexu, in omni aetate formosa est!

[3] it consoles the poor, moderates the rich, does not overextend the infirm, does not consume the strong, delights the faithful, invites the gentile; it commends the slave to his master, the master to God, adorns the woman, approves the man; it is loved in the boy, praised in the youth, looked up to in the old man; in every sex, in every age it is beautiful!

[4] Age iam, si et effigiem habitumque eius conprehendamus? Vultus illi tranquillus et placidus, frons pura nulla maeroris aut irae rugositate contracta; remissa aeque in laetum modum supercilia, oculis humilitate, non infelicitate deiectis;

[4] Come now, what if we also comprehend his effigy and habit? His countenance is tranquil and placid, his brow pure, not contracted by any wrinkling of grief or of wrath; his eyebrows likewise relaxed into a cheerful mode, his eyes cast down by humility, not by ill-fortune;

[5] os taciturnitatis honore signatum, color qualis securis et innoxiis, motus frequens capitis in diabolum et minax risus; ceterum amictus circum pectora candidus et corpori inpressus, ut qui nec inflatur nec inquietatur.

[5] a mouth marked with the honor of taciturnity, a color such as belongs to the secure and innoxious, a frequent motion of the head against the devil and a menacing laugh; moreover, a garment around the breast, white and pressed to the body, such as is neither inflated nor disquieted.

[6] Sedet enim in throno spiritus eius mitissimi et mansuetissimi, qui non turbine glomeratur, non nubilo liuet, sed est tenerae serenitatis, apertus et simplex, quem tertio uidit Helias. Nam ubi Deus, ibi et alumna eius, patientia scilicet.

[6] For his most mild and most meek Spirit sits upon a throne, which is not rolled together by a whirlwind, nor is it livid with cloud, but is of tender serenity, open and simple, whom Elijah saw for the third time. For where God is, there too is his foster-daughter, namely patience.

[7] Cum ergo spiritus Dei descendit, indiuidua patientia comitatur eum. Si non cum spiritu admiserimus, in nobis morabitur semper? Immo nescio an diutius perseueret: sine sua comite ac ministra omni loco ac tempore angatur necesse est; quodcumque inimicus eius inflixerit solus sustinere non poterit, carens instrumento sustinendi!

[7] Therefore when the Spirit of God descends, indivisible Patience accompanies him. If we do not admit her together with the Spirit, will she abide in us forever? Nay rather, I do not know whether she will persevere for long: without his companion and handmaid, he must needs be anguished in every place and time; whatever his enemy shall have inflicted he will not be able to bear alone, lacking the instrument of sustaining!

XVI.

16.

[1] Haec patientiae ratio, haec disciplina, haec opera, caelestis et uerae scilicet: Christiana non, ut illa patientia gentium terrae, falsa probrosa.

[1] This is the rationale of patience, this the discipline, this the works—heavenly and true, to wit: Christian; not like that patience of the nations of the earth, false and disgraceful.

[2] Nam ut in isto quoque domino diabolus aemularetur, quasi plane ex pari (nisi quod ipsa diuersitas mali et boni aequaliter magnitudinis par est), docuit et suos patientiam propriam,

[2] For, in order that the devil might emulate the Lord also in this, as if plainly on equal terms (except that the very diversity of evil and of good is equally a match in magnitude), he also taught his own a patience proper to them,

[3] illam dico quae maritos dote uenales aut lenociniis negotiantes uxorum potestatibus subicit, quae aucupandis orbitatibus omnem coacti obsequii laborem mentitis adfectionibus tolerat, quae uentris operarios contumeliosis patrociniis, subiectione libertatis gulae, addicit.

[3] I mean that which subjects husbands—made venal by a dowry or trafficking in pimpings—to the powers of their wives; which, for snaring the estates of the childless, endures every toil of coerced obsequiousness with feigned affections; which enslaves workers of the belly by contumelious patronages, by the subjection of liberty to gluttony.

[4] Talia nationes patientiae studia nouerunt et tanti boni nomen foedis operationibus occupant: patientes riualium et diuitum et inuitatorum, inpatientes solius Dei uiuunt. Sed uiderint sua et sui praesidis patientia, quam subterraneus ignis expectat.

[4] Such studies of patience the nations have known, and they usurp the name of so great a good for foul operations: they live patient toward rivals and the rich and the hosts, impatient of God alone. But let them look to their own concerns, and to the patience of their own ruler, which thesubterraneus fire awaits.

[5] Ceterum nos amemus patientiam Dei, patientiam Christi; rependamus illi quam pro nobis ipse dependit, offeramus patientiam spiritus, patientiam carnis, qui in resurrectionem carnis et spiritus credimus!

[5] Moreover, let us love the patience of God, the patience of Christ; let us repay to Him what He Himself expended for us; let us offer the patience of the spirit, the patience of the flesh, we who believe in the resurrection of flesh and spirit!